Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues, and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In December 2007, the government introduced a new piece of legislation, which proposed to extend the power of eminent domain to allow the government to acquire land for SEZs. Was this the right response to the land acquisition problems of private firms? Was the SEZ strategy the right one for India's economic growth?

learning objective:

Discuss the right balance between protecting private property and ensuring national development, and the limits to government intervention in private markets.

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications of the deficit were debated with intensity. At one extreme, it was argued that large deficits would eventually resolve themselves smoothly, even if they persisted for many more years. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was among those expecting a "benign resolution to the U.S. current account imbalance." Other analysts, such as economists at the World Bank, believed the large deficits raised the risk of a sharp and disorderly fall of the dollar and that necessary macroeconomic adjustment that could be painful, for the United States as well as for the rest of the world. The Financial Times asked: "How long will foreigners be prepared to make such generous 'gifts' to the US?" In this environment, Berkshire Hathaway, run by legendary investor Warren Buffett, postulated that current account imbalances would lead to "some chaotic markets in which currency adjustments play a part" and announced to shareholders a plan to increase investment in overseas companies to protect against this risk. It remained to be seen what the short and long-term implications of the current account deficit would ultimately yield.

learning objective:

To study the drivers of the widening U.S. current account deficit and the effects of an adjustment on the world economy and business environment; to review the dynamics of current account imbalances; and to explore parallels with previous historic periods of U.S. external imbalance as well as the relationship between the current account balance and net asset position, including the effects of valuation.

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

After struggling through the country's longest recession since 2008, the U.K. was expected to grow faster than any other G7 nation in 2014. Analysts wondered whether the return to growth was because, or in spite of, Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial £113 billion austerity plan introduced in 2010. Despite the positive upturn in the economy, U.K. policymakers still faced challenges with rapidly rising income inequality, an economy dominated by the financial sector, a possible housing bubble, and an approaching referendum on Scotland's independence. Moreover, many claimed the U.K. was at risk of secular stagnation, a slowdown in economic growth caused by a structural deficiency in demand. What could the government do to put the country on a sustained and balanced growth trajectory?

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Beginning less than a decade ago, the U.S. shale revolution began transforming the nation's energy outlook. Technological advances in horizontal drilling and "fracking" facilitated access to substantial new reserves of natural gas and light oil, imbedded in shale formations thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface. With gas reserves up by more than 47%, natural gas prices fell from $12 to $3 per thousand cubic feet. Tight oil production in North Dakota and Texas soared to more than 500,000 barrels daily. Because government policy directly controlled gas exports (as LNG), oil exports, and pipeline imports, public policy became the object of intense disputes among oil and gas producers, manufacturing and petrochemical interests, utilities, and environmentalists. Exporting gas (or oil) could affect higher prices in the United States but yield significant revenues, jobs, and balance-of-payments benefits. Refraining from exporting, however, would help consumers, reduce coal combustion, and attract energy-intensive businesses to the United States. And by reducing imports, America's foreign policy interests in the Middle East could also change. It remained to be seen what U.S policy would ultimately imply for the world economy.

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Assuming office in December 2012, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was determined to revive Japan's stagnating economy through an ambitious plan known as 'Abenomics.' Under the guidance of the newly appointed governor of the central bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan adopted quantitative easing as its new monetary policy, pledging to double the nation's monetary base in two years through the purchase of long-term government bonds. While Kuroda insisted that Japan needed to "use every means available" to combat deflation, critics wondered whether inflation would increase the nation's public-sector debt to unsustainable levels or outpace growth in wages. Furthermore, skeptics debated whether Prime Minister Abe was wise to make the Bank of Japan the key player in moving the nation toward economic growth. Others questioned whether, unlike in the past, the Bank of Japan would take the necessary steps to carry through with the policy.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

In February 2013, the G-20 finance ministers met in Moscow, Russia to discuss the rising anxieties over a potential international currency war. It was speculated that certain countries were purposely devaluing their currencies in order to improve their competitiveness in global markets. Emerging markets contended that the expansionary monetary policies of the major central banks, such as the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and the Bank of England, were causing significant and detrimental spillover effects, such as currency appreciation, declining exports, and rising inflation, in less developed economies. Conversely, the major central banks insisted that such policies were necessary for reviving economic growth both domestically and internationally. Would these policies successfully create a resurgence of growth? Can expansionary monetary policies be considered "beggar-thy-neighbor" actions by emerging markets? How should developing nations respond?

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Over the past decade, Brazil's future as a leading world economic power appeared certain. An expanding middle class and commodity boom had fueled economic growth, with GDP growth hitting a peak of 7.5% in 2010. However, the high cost of conducting business in Brazil, known as "Custo Brasil," was hurting domestic manufacturing, while incoming foreign investments threatened to overwhelm Brazilian markets. Under President Dilma Rousseff, economic growth stagnated, and the Rousseff administration struggled to find the best balance between reducing inflation, maintaining a flexible exchange rate, and improving the competitiveness of Brazilian exports.

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

For the past few decades, Australia has dealt with the benefits and costs of repeated mining booms--inflation, a housing bubble, a current account deficit and growing dependence on China. Between 1996 and 2007, however, Australia had most of these issues under control and grew at impressive rates, becoming one of the richest of developed countries. Yet competitiveness in its non-mining sectors declined. Since the financial crisis, additional challenges associated with climate change, minerals taxes, migration and an overvalued currency have complicated the issues facing Julia Gillard and her Labor Party, with a very thin majority.

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

In 2009, Chile's Finance Minister Andres Velasco's fortunes had been reversed. His fiscal policy that had come under attack just a year ago had been used to finance a $4 billion fiscal stimulus package amid the global economic downturn. Velasco was now Chile's most popular minister. However, the future of Chile's fiscal policy was questionable with the election of a new president, Sebastian Pinera, the first conservative leader to lead Chile in two decades.

learning objective:

Debate the political and economic advantages, disadvantages, and challenges of stabilization funds in developing countries; study Chile's experience in the last three decades and the role of politics in encouraging economic growth and deterring economic crises.

*required field. You can change details at any time before activation.

The enrollment number will not limit students' access to materials. Accurate enrollment allows
us to manage site traffic and course activity.

If your course is affiliated with an institution not listed here or you need to create a course to last longer than 6 months,
please contact HBP Customer Service at custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu or 800-545-7685.

Type the information in each box. Boxes marked with an asterisk (*) are required information.
You can change the coursepack information, including the Start and Stop Dates and the quantity,
at any time before you activate the coursepack.

If your coursepack is affiliated with an institution not listed here or you need to create a coursepack
which is longer than 6 months, please contact HBP Customer Service at custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu
or 800-545-7685.